1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image layout device, an image layout method, a program, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, software and devices for arranging images and creating an album have been widely spread. In such software and devices, images are automatically arranged in a predetermined order (for example, an image shooting order) or manually designated and arranged by a user. Several techniques for more conveniently executing an image selection and layout while sufficiently satisfying a user's intent have been suggested.
As one of the above-mentioned techniques, an image editing device, which designates a feature of an image to be arranged in each image layout frame and automatically selects images based on some information, has been discussed in US Patent No. 2005/0168779. Further, an image layout device, which automatically computes an attention degree of an image and arranges images in a layout frame with a high priority in an attention degree order, has been discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-234500.
However, the conventional image layout devices have the following problems. First, when images are automatically arranged in a predetermined order, there is a problem in that an image to be arranged in the layout frame is determined regardless of the user's desire. Further, when the user manually selects an image, there is a problem in that much efforts and times are required in manually selecting an image to be applied to the layout frame from a large number of images and arranging the image.
Meanwhile, in techniques suggested for solving the problems, it is possible to automatically execute an image selection and layout in which the user's intent is reflected, but an image arrangement order does not necessarily coincide with an image shooting order. In this case, there is a problem in that in the case of an image group according to a certain flow, a layout, which does not satisfy the user's intent, is performed.